Teddy
by L. J. Fathom
Summary: 1/4 of a planned series - fairly short. A very different take on the "new girl joins the gang" storyline. I wonder if Teddy remembers Reynard? First fanfic, read and review!


**Author's Note: **This is my first fanfiction in quite a while, about my favourite Stand By Me character. I'm hoping to write one for each of the Fantastic Four at some point. I'm aware that this isn't perfect, but I sort of liked the idea. Please feel free to leave constructive criticism, but.. be nice? xD Tell me one good thing I've done as well as what I've screwed up?

The text in italics is Gordie narrating.

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We all heard it. A car screeching, followed by an inhuman howl of pain. The four of us exchanged glances, before Teddy stood and stalked around the side of his house to peer curiously at the creature lying in the road.

"What is it?" Vern asked, and Teddy knelt down next to it.  
"Looks like a fox- hey!" He prodded the small animal sharply in the ribs, and it clamped its jaws around his fingers in annoyance.  
"Looks like it's just a baby," Chris muttered when it failed to break the skin. "And ill."  
The wild canine was small, and though a bright energy shone in its eyes, its coat was tatty, and a dirty shade of red. It was clear that the car had injured the animal's leg, which bent at the wrong angle and was obviously unable to support the fox's weight.

_Teddy had made the decision to look after it, and so we'd spent the rest of the day making the fox comfortable in his garden. Vern fetched the wooden house that had belonged to their dog before it died, and we padded it with old blankets.  
__The fox had been named Reynard, which Teddy told us was the name of a sly fox from medieval legends. I'll never know how he knew so much about medieval legends. A few days later we'd figured out that Reynard was in fact Reynardette, but none of us thought to change her name.  
__Every day we would go to Teddy's house with leftovers from dinner or old newspapers. Reynard became like a pet dog to all of us, and like a friend to Teddy, who was almost always with her. They suited each other: both scrawny and tatty, with strong characters and an almost frightening unpredictability. We were soon able to feed her out of our hands and even hold her (although, fearing disease, none of us let her lick our faces - except Teddy). We'd managed to bandage her leg with a splint, and she could walk a few steps before veering left and falling over: we figured she'd be walking fine again by autumn._

"Here, Reynard, here girl. C'mon, Rey!" Chris and Teddy were sitting a few feet from each other, calling to the fox who glanced between them before hobbling towards Chris. He caught her before she fell over.  
"No way, she never goes to Chris!" Teddy protested.  
"She never goes to anyone but Teddy," Gordie agreed, eyes wide in surprise at the little fox, who was sniffing around Chris' pockets. Finally, with a grin, Chris produced a scrap of cold chicken from his pocket and held it out to Rey. She quickly gulped it down.  
"You cheater!" Teddy gasped. "CHEATERRR!" He leapt on Chris, who laughed and easily overpowered his friend. Gordie quickly joined in the play fighting, as did Rey, who growled and tugged at sleeves and collars, but quickly gave up when Vern returned from the store with food. She sat obediently at his feet with her fluffy tail tucked around her paws.  
"Hey Teddy, look how shallow your girlfriend is. If you've got food, she's yours."  
"Shut it, Chambers."

_About two weeks after finding Reynard laying in the road, we'd arrived at the Du Champ residence to find Teddy sitting against the dog house, Reynard lying in his lap. When we got closer, we saw that Rey was unusually still, and looked weak. Teddy was staring at her with a blank, tense expression. We all understood instantly._

_That was the smallest I'd ever seen Teddy. No matter how clearly you could see the bones in his arms or how loose all his clothes seemed to be, the sheer size of his character would make up for it. He had a huge personality that somehow managed to fill in all the gaps in his tiny frame, but there was no sign of it now - he might as well have been made out of string.  
__We'd all helped the dig the grave that Reynard was slowly lowered into, her weird grin-like expression still fixed on her face. We'd all muttered something as we drizzled a handful of dirt over the lid of the box that served as her coffin. Looking back, I feel like it should have been strange that we all mourned so deeply for the tiny bundle of fur, especially Teddy: when Rey died, it was like a piece of him died with her. He'd even removed the two dog tags strung around his neck and buried them on top of the box._

_I wonder if he still remembers Reynard?_


End file.
